


Balance

by RuleBritannia



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Dark!Arthur, Gen, Prompt Fic, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-16
Updated: 2012-05-16
Packaged: 2017-11-05 12:11:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/406276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuleBritannia/pseuds/RuleBritannia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For this prompt: http://cabinpres-fic.dreamwidth.org/4207.html?thread=6344815#cmt6344815</p>
    </blockquote>





	Balance

**Author's Note:**

> For this prompt: http://cabinpres-fic.dreamwidth.org/4207.html?thread=6344815#cmt6344815

One of the very few times his father had done something with him, he had taken Arthur for ice-cream a hot summer afternoon, when he was six, and he had learned two valuable life lessons that he carried with him to this day. One, chocolate ice-cream was brilliant. Two, you can really tell when someone is a bully when they place an order after waiting in line for a long while. Of course some people were sometimes rude, or got frustrated with a clerk. But there was a big difference between an angry costumer and a bully, with their sneers and humiliating put downs. 

He knew all about bullies. He remembers the empty, defeated look on the pretty girl’s eyes as she handed him his cone after his father had torn her to pieces with a calm that sent chills down his spine. It was like someone had sucked the soul out of her. He’d seen his father do it so many times, had even been on the receiving end of it more times that he could count. 

He knew all about bullies, knew how to recognize them, and now he knew exactly what to do with them. 

Mr. Leeman had been an accident, really, but it had been eye-opening. Just like happiness was in the little things, there were little things that brought everyone down, like soggy socks on a rainy day. And just like Arthur tried his best to spread all the joy he felt, people like his father, like Mr. Leeman, they sucked the joy out of everyone. And they did it on purpose, to keep everyone down, so they can be on top.

It isn’t about revenge. It’s about balance. There aren’t enough people out there spreading joy, so he is just balancing the playing field. Though he sometimes remembers Skip’s face close to tears, or the Girl’s at the ice-cream parlour, and then he remembers the look of fear and hopelessness in their eyes those few moments before death. He can almost see his father instead. It’s like tossing an apple, and he likes tossing apples as often as he can. 

He waits in line. He really isn’t here for the caramel macchiato; it’s just an added bonus. 

Then he sees her. Mid-thirties, a bit posh, talking on her smart-phone as she spews her insults, with contempt dripping from her tone.

“I get that you have no skills to work anywhere else, but are you seriously telling me you’re so incompetent you can’t take an order properly, after making me wait for ten minutes?”

Arthur tunes the rest of it out, and changes lines, so he can give the poor fellow the proper smile he deserves for all his hard work. The smile’s already there. Today’s going to be really brilliant for him; not so brilliant for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Author is not happy with the results, but needed to write this, and is now resorting to speaking about herself in the third person.


End file.
